Horton House U11s visited Compton Park on Sunday morning, with the Cook’s in high spirits following their win in the previous match. A good practice session on the previous Tuesday evening also led to optimism for a good performance. The Horton skipper called correctly and the Cooks were asked to bat as the crowds began to roll into the ground.
Archie & Mikey were asked to start the innings with the goal being to get through the first four overs without losing wickets and to be positive, especially with the running between the wickets. This they achieved, although there were a couple of heart-stopping moments as Archie set off for runs with Mikey still stuck on his crease, however by the skin of their teeth they survived. As it turned out, the pair only faced 23 balls in their 4 overs, would the omission of the extra ball prove costly?
Aidan and Anya played with purpose, although the tight Horton bowling made it difficult and Anya succumbed twice to a straight ball. There was also the bizarre sight of [what the spectators thought] Anya being run out by a direct hit from Fine Leg, clearly several feet short of her ground and then being given not out. There was some discussion in the crowd whether the bails left the stumps….we will never know…I prefer to think her chewing gum did the trick.
Mohit continued his good form alongside Niamh, who unfortunately was also dismissed. Mohit is really developing his batting and bowling this season and is a key player in the team.
The score needed some impetus and Liam and Will came in with the objective to get at least another 25 on the board, as we were some way short of a competitive total. With Johnny Extras helping out they pretty much did that, Liam hitting 15 from 12 balls and a net total of 39 being the Horton target.
As in previous weeks, most of the team bowled well and wickets were taken at the right time, just as Horton were threatening to reach the target easily. Niamh, Mohit and Archie all took wickets, with a catch and a direct run-out from Liam pegging back the score. The last over saw all three results possible and even with the last ball the scores were tied, however Horton scrambled a leg-bye and in our haste to run them out, conceded an overthrow to see them home by 2 runs. That 24th delivery did indeed come back to haunt us!!!
It was a great effort from the team, the margin of defeat being so small – if each player could find a way to maybe bowl one less wide, take the catch presented or convert one run into two, we would win the close games. What was especially pleasing was on four occasions the team managed direct hits which was something we had spent a lot of time on at practice this week.
Thanks as ever to Charlie for umpiring and George “Tavare” Thompson for scoring.